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Welcome to issue Number 1️⃣, and thanks for joining me on this writing experiment!

You probably have some of questions, so let me answer them in rapid-fire Q&A format:

Why am I running this experiment?

Like many of you, I’ve become obsessed with cryptocurrency & blockchain technology. I’ve “fallen down the rabbit hole” 🐇🕳 and may never return.

And like many of you, I’ve found that most crypto content sucks 🤦‍♂️.

Most of our crypto information diet is shiny distractions that won’t matter in 1 week, let alone 1 year or 1 decade.

We either waste massive amounts of time sifting through the noise to find what actually matters, or we get so discouraged that we give up.

I want to help solve this #fail.

So… What is this?

Let me start by telling you what this isn’t.

This is NOT a collection of links to today’s “most important” articles

This is NOT a summary of latest 24 hour crypto news cycle

And of course, This is NOT investment 💸, legal ⚖️, or relationship 💔 advice.

These posts will be:

🕐 Digestible : You’re busy. I’m busy. Time is our most precious resource. I want you to be able to read this quickly, wherever you are, and understand why it matters. Oh, and I’ll do my best to put everything In Plain English.

📆 Consistent: I’m aiming to post ~weekly. Perhaps more, but hopefully not less. I’ll try not to ghost you 👻.

🌲 Evergreen: These posts will discuss topics that have a lasting impact in crypto land. They’ll be relevant in the future. Did you miss an issue? Join recently? No problem.

🕺 Authentic: I plan to include Memes, Gifs, Emojis, & Snark.

🗣 Interactive: I want to hear from you! Hit me up on twitter or email and please tell me why I’m wrong!

What are your principles?

Omar from The Wire said it best:

So here are some #goals that I want to bring to this experiment:

Right Questions over Right Answers: On the internet, finding information is instant and free. Therefore, it’s never been easier to get ‘the right answer.’ This also means that getting ‘the right answer’ has never been worth less. Asking the right question is far more important than having the right answer.

Reflection over Reaction: If you spend 3 minutes on social media you’ll quickly find that reactions are a dime a dozen. It’s easy to react, and hard to reflect. Reflection includes questions like:

Why do we do things this way?

What if we’re wrong?

How would we do this if we were starting from scratch?

In this experiment, I want to peel back the onion and observe it, instead of immediately throwing it into the food processor. Carefully examining questions and assumptions can lead us to a lot of interesting conversations.

What’s the deal with the name? Proof-of-Take? 🤔🤔🤔

I’m into puns. Proof-of-Take is a play on Proof-of-Stake — a crypto concept we’ll cover later. A “take” is an opinion. And I have a lot of opinions I’d like to share.

Basically:

What else can the reader expect?

I’ve got a lot of takes brewing ☕️, but here are some that I’ll touch on. If you’re confused about any of them, even better!

💸 What is Money?

⛓ WTF is a blockchain and why should I care?

🤯 Why are memes powerful?

🧠 Are “Smart Contracts” actually dumb?

🤖 The power of “Steelmanning”: making the strongest case for the other side.

Thanks for reading this issue. I’d love to get your feedback on this and continue the discussion. The best way to reach me is on Twitter — I’m @CantHardyWait